Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Nebraska Trip Close To Home

Ask anyone to name a road in Tampa with the worst reputation and usually the first one named is Nebraska Avenue.

True, the Nebraska corridor I follow on my bicycle from Seminole Heights to Ybor City and downtown is not exactly the quaint garden boulevard.

But I'm fascinated by the architectural residential gems and rugged and ambitious small businesses -- and new restaurants such as Ella's and Reservations -- amid the car shops, used tire lots, old motels and industrial storefronts.

So, I got up early (it's not too cold for me -- 34 degrees is springtime in upstate New York), took my camera and snapped photos along Nebraska Avenue from Ybor City's 7th Avenue to Hillsborough River.

Here are some images along the three-mile strip. The contrasts are stunning.

A lovely statue -- it's at a city of Tampa building where you pay parking tickets.

Everyone seems to like apostrophes. But you use them only in the possessive -- not when a word implies a plural.

Interstate above.

There's good.

And there's bad.

Everywhere

Look carefully -- there's a guy fixing a bike wheel in the background.